Rosuvastatin is an inhibitor of an enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), and is useful for, for example, the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and mixed dyslipidemia. Rosuvastatin is a generic name of (E)-7-[4-(4-fluorophenyl)-6-isopropyl-2-[methyl(methylsulfonyl)amino]pyrimidin-5-yl]-(3R,5S)-3,5-hydroxy-6-heptenoic acid. In treatments, rosuvastatin is administered as a calcium salt thereof. Rosuvastatin calcium is a trade name of CRESTOR (registered trade mark), and is sold as an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor. Rosuvastatin calcium has the following chemical formula.

Patent document 1 discloses rosuvastatin, a sodium salt and calcium salt thereof, and production methods of these. According to patent document 1, rosuvastatin and a salt thereof are obtained by condensing methyl (3R)-3-[(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)oxy]-5-oxo-6-triphenylphosphoranylidenehexanoate and 4-(4-fluorophenyl)-6-isopropyl-2-(N-methyl-N-methanesulfonylamino)-5-pyrimidinecarboxaldehyde to introduce a side chain having one asymmetric center, and performing deprotection of 3-hydroxy group, asymmetric reduction of 5-oxo group, and hydrolysis. Since this method requires extremely low temperature conditions (preferably −85° C.-−70° C.) during asymmetric reduction, it is not entirely an industrially preferable production method.
Similar methods for introducing a side chain having two asymmetric centers are also known (patent documents 2, 3 and the like). Since these methods also require extremely low temperature conditions (e.g., about −75° C.) during Wittig reaction, they are not entirely industrially preferable production methods.
Also, methods for introducing an asymmetric center by using an optically active titanium catalyst are known (patent document 4 and the like). Since these methods use an expensive optically active catalyst, and require extremely low temperature conditions (about −80° C.-−50° C.) during asymmetric reduction, they are not entirely industrially preferable production methods.
Non-patent documents 1 and 2 describe a method for producing a dihydroxyester derivative by reduction of a diketoester derivative. However, non-patent documents 1 and 2 specifically disclose only the reduction by organic synthesis reaction, and only compounds wherein the diketoester derivative or dihydroxyester derivative is tert-butylester.
Patent documents 5 and 6 describe a production method using carbonylreductase as a production method of pitavastatin. However, patent documents 5 and 6 do not provide description relating to rosuvastatin. In addition, rosuvastatin has a pyrimidine ring substituted by a sulfonylamino group, whereas pitavastatin has a quinoline ring, and the chemical structures thereof are vastly different.